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OPINION

Editorial: Farms are up today, but what about tomorrow?

Ventura
Published 5:31 p.m. PT Dec. 14, 2016

Strawberries are the No. 1 crop in Ventura County, according to a 2015 report.(Photo: STAR FILE PHOTO)

It’s easy sometimes to lose sight of Ventura County’s split personality — the urban, suburban part of us coexisting with the rural, agricultural part. Nothing illustrates that better than the morning commute on Highway 101 through Oxnard and Camarillo, where thousands of vehicles grind their way through some of the most productive farmland in the world. Yet glued to our steering wheels and radios and cellphones (probably illegally) and just wanting to get to work, many of us are oblivious to the way of life on either side of the highway.

Although it failed at the polls Nov. 8, the SUSTAIN VC measure put forth by farmers served to remind us of agriculture’s importance in our county, of its strength but also of its uncertain future. And on Tuesday, we received another such reminder with the release of Ventura County’s 2015 Crop & Livestock Report.

As usual, the annual report contains many statistics on the value of crops grown here, acreages, yields and trends. This year’s version also focuses on agricultural STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — and how local farmers are using them to increase yields, control pests, improve irrigation and “produce at the levels essential to stay in business.”

Ventura County crops generated an estimated $2.2 billion in gross revenue last year, a 4.3 percent increase from 2014, says the report prepared by the county Agricultural Commissioner’s Office. The county’s top three crops remained strawberries, lemons and raspberries, in that order. They had value decreases in 2015, but increases among the rest of the top 10 — nursery stock, celery, avocados, peppers, tomatoes, cut flowers and kale — more than made up for that.

In the latest national data available, our crop value ranked 11th among all U.S. counties (the first 10 counties are in California), according to the Farm Bureau of Ventura County. Agriculture and related businesses provide an estimated 43,000 jobs here, more than any other economic sector in Ventura County except services, the Farm Bureau says. One out of every 10 people in the county at least partially rely on agriculture-related income, it says.

But as SUSTAIN VC proponents pointed out, while SOAR may preserve the zoning of farmland, it does not preserve the future of farming. California’s ongoing drought, labor shortages, increasing regulation, global competition and crop-harming pests continue to challenge farmers and in some cases squeeze profits. The H2A visa program, for example, allows U.S. farmers to hire foreign guest workers on temporary work visas to fill seasonal jobs, but it faces an uncertain future under a Trump administration.

“There are ups and downs, but the overall trend is upward,” former Farm Bureau director Rex Laird said of the county’s 1996 crop report. Amazingly, we can still say the same thing two decades later — with our fingers crossed for the future.

Read or Share this story: https://www.vcstar.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/12/14/editorial-farms-up-today-but-what-tomorrow/95449514/